Anbu Interception: The Senju Heir's Dominating Entrance into the Village

Moonlight spilled through gaps in the clouds, casting two long shadows.

One belonged to Nawaki, and the other to the red-haired head nestled in his arms.

Kushina Uzumaki hadn't said a word along the way, but her heartbeat was so loud that even she found it embarrassing. Her face was buried against Nawaki's chest, her nose filled with the scents of grass, wood, and blood.

Strangely, she didn't find it bloody at all.

"We're here."

Nawaki stopped. Moonlight illuminated the massive Konoha Village gate ahead, along with the four words "Konohagakure."

Kushina raised her head. Just as she was about to say, "You can put me down now," Nawaki's gaze shifted from her face to the darkness on the left side of the gate.

Four figures landed soundlessly five meters in front of them.

Animal masks, black cloaks, standard Anbu gear. But Nawaki noticed a faint dark marking etched into the insides of all four arm guards.

Root operatives.

That old bastard Danzō had really gone all out. Two had just died at the frontline camp, and he still hadn't learned his lesson?

The eagle-masked Anbu at the front raised a hand, his tone cold and mechanical. "Nawaki Senju, under orders from Konoha's higher-ups, Kushina Uzumaki is an important strategic resource of the village and must immediately be transferred into Anbu protection. Hand over the target."

"Strategic resource?" Nawaki didn't so much as twitch a brow as he looked down at Kushina in his arms.

The moment Kushina heard the words "strategic resource," her entire body went rigid.

Ever since arriving in Konoha, she had vaguely sensed it. Everyone looked at her with a strange kind of scrutiny. They weren't looking at a person. They were looking at an object.

So that was it.

In the eyes of Konoha's higher-ups, she didn't even deserve a name. She was merely a "strategic resource."

She bit her lip. Her fingertips unconsciously tightened, and the hand clutching Nawaki's collar began to tremble.

Nawaki felt it.

He lowered his head, his voice gentle. "Don't shake."

Then he looked up at the four Anbu, the curve of his lips slowly widening.

"You call my Senju Clan's fiancée a strategic resource?"

The words weren't loud, but they struck the night wind more forcefully than an explosive tag.

Kushina's mind buzzed, instantly going blank.

Fiancée?

Who?

Me?

She flushed all the way to the roots of her neck, her thoughts becoming a complete mess. She wanted to argue, but after opening her mouth for ages, she couldn't force out a single word.

Her heart was beating so fast it felt ready to explode.

The eagle mask paused, clearly not expecting that answer. But he swiftly regained his icy tone. "Nawaki Senju, this is an order from the higher-ups, not a negotiation. Put her down."

"I said," Nawaki tilted his head, his neck giving a faint crack. His smile remained unchanged, as did his tone, but something else now underlaid his voice. "She belongs to me, Nawaki Senju. Try calling her a 'resource' one more time."

The four Anbu exchanged glances.

The mission briefing had stated: Target Nawaki Senju, genin, mediocre strength.

The eagle-masked Anbu placed his right hand on the hilt of the shinobi sword on his back. "Final warning. Those who resist orders—"

"Shut up."

Nawaki didn't even raise a hand.

He merely tapped his right foot lightly against the ground.

Crack.

Chakra sank into the earth.

Four wooden spikes as thick as arms burst from the ground almost simultaneously, moving too fast for the eye to follow.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Four crisp impacts shattered four animal masks with perfect precision—the eagle, bear, snake, and dog. Fragments scattered beneath the moonlight.

Then the wooden spikes changed direction, passing through gaps in the shattered mask fragments and driving hard into the four men's shoulder guards, pinning them to the walls on either side of Konoha Gate.

Not too high, not too low. Exactly the right height for display pieces.

The four hung from the walls, their weapons scattered across the ground. Their feet dangled half a foot above the earth, leaving them unable to struggle. Terror covered the faces exposed beneath their shattered masks.

From Nawaki's stomp to the four being mounted on the walls, less than a second had passed.

Yet he had held Kushina the entire time, and his posture hadn't shifted in the slightest.

The two chunin guards on duty at the gate had been dozing. Now, they fell straight out of their chairs. Staring at the four living people hanging from the walls and the mask fragments all over the ground, their legs began to shake.

"W-Wood Release... That's Wood Release... The First Hokage's Wood Release..."

One guard scrambled to his feet and ran desperately toward the Hokage Building.

Nawaki didn't look at them. Lowering his head, he said gently, "Close your eyes. Don't look at these filthy things."

Kushina obediently closed her eyes.

She didn't know why she was listening to him so readily.

But once her eyes were closed, she could hear her heartbeat even more clearly. The sounds of two hearts tangled together, and she couldn't tell which one was hers.

Holding her, Nawaki strode through Konoha Gate.

As he passed the eagle-masked Anbu pinned to the wall, Nawaki paused and glanced sideways at him.

"Go back and tell Danzō."

His smile remained gentle.

"If he sends anyone else to steal my woman, next time, it won't be their shoulders that get pinned."

The eagle-masked Anbu trembled all over, unable to speak.

Nawaki ignored him and carried Kushina into Konoha's long streets beneath the moonlight.

Behind them, four living "warnings" hung from the wall. The gate guards had run so fast that they lost their shoes, and the entire entrance to Konoha Gate was in shambles.

And atop a tree canopy a hundred meters away.

Minato Namikaze crouched on one knee, clutching a kunai so tightly that the handle had rubbed red marks into his palm.

He had witnessed everything.

Wood Release. Anbu. Instant defeat.

And that line: "My Senju Clan's fiancée."

Minato opened his mouth, but his throat was dry.

He had followed them the whole way, thinking of a hundred ways to speak up—step out and question him, go forward and introduce himself, or at least say, "I was the one who tracked that girl down first."

But now, as he watched Nawaki carry Kushina into the village, he couldn't say a single word.

It wasn't that he didn't dare.

He simply wasn't qualified.

He couldn't even last a second against those four Anbu. What right did he have to say, "I'll protect her"?

Minato slowly lowered his kunai, crouching in the tree canopy as he watched the two shadows gradually recede into the distance.

The wind blew past, and the two blades of grass were still caught in his hair.

In the distance, the lights of the Hokage Building suddenly came on.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, set down his pipe and looked at the panting chunin guard kneeling before him.

"Say that again."

"Young Master Nawaki... at the village gate... used Wood Release... to nail four Anbu to the wall..."

"And... he was carrying a little red-haired girl in his arms... and said she was..."

The guard swallowed.

"The Senju Clan's fiancée!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's fingers froze in midair. The tobacco in his pipe burned out, and a wisp of smoke curled upward.

He slowly rose to his feet, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

The night wind rushed in, stirring the hem of the Hokage robe.

The old man's clouded eyes looked toward the village gate. He was silent for a long time.

"Someone."

"Notify the Elders' Council. In one hour—"

"Convene a meeting."